The Finished Product

I know y'all don't enjoy looking at all these house pictures nearly as much as I do, however I wanted to update so you could see the finished product. It is looking better now that we have some furniture in. We are moving this Saturday so keep us in your prayers :)

Who would have ever thought...

The entire group shot!
The Girls
This week has already gotten off to a sad start! On Sunday night, our Sunday School gave a going away party for the three couples that are moving away from Auburn. I didn't know how hard it was going to be and did not prepare myself very well. While one of our teachers was blessing the food, my eyes just welled up with tears. It finally hit me that we are moving away and while we will of course come back to visit lots and will remain friends with those we have become close to, it will not really ever be the same. I know that God has awesome plans for us in Birmingham, otherwise we would not have had a peace about moving. And I am reminded daily that the Lord is faithful in providing for us in times of need. I know He will go before us to Birmingham and find new friends for us but they will never take the place of those friendships we have made here. Our Sunday School class has strengthened our marriage so much and we hold everyone in it so dear! I have had to borrow pictures off of my friend Ashley's blog because the camera cord that connects to the computer for me to upload pictures is in John's car in Birmingham. Our stuff is in like 4 different places right now :) We took a great group shot using the timer on our camera so I will be sure to post that this weekend! I told John he was lucky that he only had to go through saying goodbye once. He drove in from Birmingham just to go to the party and drove back the same night. I on the other hand have dinner with my bible study girls tonight, pizza and AI finale tomorrow night with my Drakesters, and Thursday night my precious friend Christen is coming over with dinner to help me pack. This week is such a reminder of the wonderful people that have come into our life in our three short years here in Auburn. They were even making fun of me a bit on Sunday night saying "Who would have ever thought you would be crying about leaving Auburn!!" Who would have ever thought.

The Final Countdown

While catching up on my blog reading this morning while my kids run absolutely wild, just waiting for 9am when we go outside for "Panther Olympics" (Fun Fridays in May sounded like a good idea...), I couldn't help but notice that several of my teacher friends are counting the days down for school to be out. I totally feel it too! The days seem to drag on and 70 minutes to teach has never seemed so long. After today, we will have 5 more days left of school. I will have 5 more days of teaching here at Drake. 5 more days of daily hallway conversation with the girls I love to share life with. Only 5 more! When I think about it this way, 5 more days seems way to short. I have been complaining to John this week that I am totally stressed out for being solely responsible for packing up our house AND my classroom at the same time. It is very overwhelming when you have been packing for 2 hours and it doesn't appear that you have made any progress-to the contrary, everything is even more of a mess than when I first started. Similarly, it is such a strange feeling to pack up my classroom, knowing that I am not packing to move to another classroom at Drake but my stuff will be moving a lot farther. Right now, my car is so packed full of random tidbits of our life that we have made in 2.5 short years that I can't see the ceiling of my SUV and not even a little out the back. I am traveling to Birmingham once school is out to try to begin settling into our house. We have been talking about this since January and knew it was coming, but that doesn't make it any easier!

My Blog Just Got Pimped...

by Holly! Thanks for giving my blog a much needed uplift! What am I going to do without my anal friend to make sure that all of my margins, font size, and colors are correct?!? I didn't even have to pay for it (and she even fed me dinner). You rock!

Whoo Hoo!

My keys were found on Saturday night. Jenny found them in her car! I will not even tell you where they were because it is embarrassing-we should have definitely seen them all along. In our defense, it was dark the first time we looked!

Someone Has a Case of the Mondays...

Bentley hasn't made an appearance on the blog in a while so I figured I would show you what I found when I finished getting ready this morning. Poor thing...ever since the beginning of April when John left us to work in Birmingham, Bentley has been confused and pitiful. He gets so excited on Friday when John gets in or we arrive in Birmingham, only to have that excitement leave on Sunday. You can tell that he knows something is up with all the boxes in our apartment, only seeing John on the weekends, being carted to Birmingham more often than usual. It is really wearing on him :)

This is why I love my Job!!

I am convinced we teach kids because deep down inside we all are still kids! Today was 6th grade Day at the Park...the pictures speak for themselves. This year was the first year we have had inflatables. The teachers had more fun than the kids! The water slide and the slip and slide were my favorites. I couldn't get the last picture to flip right at school but you get the idea :)

Oh What A Night!

Last night some girls from my bible study went to Corks and Canvas in Montgomery. If you are near the area I highly recommend that you go! It was super fun. I know there is a similar one in Birmingham as well. Anyway, it is only $30 and they provide you with all the materials you need plus the instructor that guides you through a painting and you get to leave with a 16X20 masterpiece (sort of). We had a great time and it was so fun to see how different each girl's painting turned out.

I definitely need to go back to get some more practice. The instructor told me that we definitely didn't pick an easy painting for our first time so that made all of us feel better! Here is my painting compared to the instructors :)

So all in all, a great experience with dear friends. On on our way home from Montgomery, we thought that we were done with all the excitement. Not exactly. We pulled up into the parking lot where we had met and parked all of our cars and I was fishing around my purse for my keys. My purse is kind of big so I didn't freak out that I didn't immediately find them and just kept looking. Several other girls had already pulled off so I told Shealy and Ashley to start looking in Jenny's car. I dumped out my purse, we flipped all the seats in Jenny's car, and my keys were no where to be found. Now I am beginning to freak out. Then I realized that on my key ring was my apartment key (obviously)...so now there was no point in freaking out about not being able to drive my car home because I am locked out of home too! Shealy has Clayton on the phone and they are calling every locksmith within a 50 mile radius. I realize I need to call John-not because he can do anything, but because maybe he can help me calm down. As soon as he answered I burst into tears and explain the situation. Thankfully, he was precious about the whole thing (it probably helped that I had woken him up--remember he is in Birmingham and it is 10pm so he is in bed and did not flip out) and just tried to help me think this through. We decided while we called locksmiths, we should go to the apartment to see if there was an emergency number to call (there is never anyone in the office past 6). Clayton met us at the apartment. This is probably the most hilarious part of the whole story. He pulls up with Millie in the passenger seat and shows us that he has brought along A GUN just in case we come into contact with any sketchy locksmiths! I couldn't help but laugh. By the grace of God, the property manager's son was in her office studying for exams. I beat on the door and could kind of see through the blinds that he didn't intend on answering. I beat again and said "Please, we need help." He probably thought I was on the verge of getting raped or something. He opened and I again explained the situation to him, sounding as desperate as I could even though I didn't have to try very hard because I was basically at breaking point-my dog is locked in my apartment which I am locked out of, I have no keys to the car that will probably get towed if it stays in the parking lot overnight, and my husband is in Birmingham! He gave me a key to unlock my apartment door and John had remembered that there was a valet key for the Honda in our desk drawer. Hooray! By this time it is 10:45. Shealy, Me, Bentley, Clayton, Millie, and the gun head back to the parking lot where my car is parked and I am able to get in (no keys are in the car so I didn't lock them inside) and get home by 11:00. I still have no idea where my keys are...my only guess is that they are at Corks and Canvas, maybe they fell out of my purse. We have called and they are supposed to call me back when they get there today and have had a chance to look. So still no keys, but truth that you can find humor in any situation (Thanks Clayton!)

Biscuits!

Today we headed to Montgomery with the entire 6th grade at Drake to check out a Montgomery Biscuits game. This morning started off nicely...the weather was good, A student saved me by having sunscreen, and the best part was that work today consisted of hanging out with coworkers in the beautiful weather while enjoying a baseball game. We loaded up on the buses-I, along with Mr. Jenkins, braved the boys bus. We get off an exit that I don't remember from last year when we went but I didn't worry about...I figured the bus driver had the directions and maybe we were taking another route. WRONG! After we lost the other buses and drove through a neighborhood that I am sure is only featured on the news for their night-time activity, the bus driver turns to Russ and I and says, "Do you know how to get there?" Are you kidding me? Why would we know how to get there?? Our job is to tame 106 kids...keeping them from singing to the top of their lungs and stick their limbs out the windows...not print off directions. After a few turns, we stopped to ask directions from a police man on the side of the road. The driver carried on so I assumed now she knew where she was going. Again, she looked back at us and said, "Do you think we go left here?" I wanted to be like, well um I don't know...why did we stop and ask for directions if you weren't going to listen! We did end up making it and had a great time. I tried to sunbathe, even though for those who know me well know that I only freckle and burn. When it was time to load the buses again, the bus driver again asked us if we knew how to get home and then added, "All I know is the bus is smoking!?!" Just what you want to hear when you are tired and hot and in Montgomery. We did make it back to Auburn without breaking down. Maybe our bus driver should consider another day job...or at least look into MapQuest next time!

The Panther Crew-Mrs. Curry, Mrs. Armstrong, Mrs. Vakakes, and Mr. Jenkins

Spots

This is a portrait of me and John done by my talented 3 year old niece, Sutherlan. She told me she was going to draw me a picture when we were visiting with them on Saturday. When she was finished, she called me into the room with her easel to show me her masterpiece. Then she kind of looked at me funny, like she was studying my face, and told me she wasn't done. She made me leave the room and a short while later she came and got me and told me now she was really done. When I got in the room I first couldn't tell what she added. Then I saw it. She said, "Aunt B I forgot your spots." She had added 2 circles on my face where my "spots" are...my moles! She is so observant to only be 3!

Crazy Kids

So many people when I tell them I teach sixth grade always look at me with a look of horror or disgust...then they tell me they don't know how I do it! Today was proof as to why I teach kids this age...they are hysterical! We have been working on a fairy tale unit for the past two weeks. We studied the elements of a fairy tale and read many examples. Then I gave them the task to choose a famous fairy tale and retell it giving it a modern twist or simply speaking from someone else's point of view. They were to perform their plays today for the class. Let me just say that several times I was crying because I was laughing so hard. I had everything from Pinkylina (the retelling of Thumbelina) to Little Red Rider in the Hood (you can guess what that was from!). I had a group do a modern version of The Wizard of Oz and the three that accompanied Dorothy to the city of Oz were Brittney Spears (who had lost her voice and wanted it back-played by a little boy with a shaved head...), Flava Flav (who had lost his clock), and Shia Le Buf (who lived in a junkyard and couldn't find his transformers). Too funny! 5th period came a shocker-a girl who was to play 'Lil Wayne in her group's retelling of Litle Red Rider in the Hood came with her face painted brown. When I stopped her outside to ask what she was doing, she just replied, "I am supposed to be a gangster!" I was horrified, especially knowing parents of all ethnicities were in my classroom waiting to begin. I mean did she not hear about that similar incident with the Beta's?? They didn't fare so well in that situation. On a random note of the day at the end of 3rd period, I sent 2 of my boys who always want to take my trash out to the dumpster because my trash was overflowing. They decided to take a detour to the dumpster and went down into the basement of Drake. They claim that Mrs. Vakakes told them to go down to the basement to put away some props, they dropped the box of trash, some pieces fell into a room, and when they went to retrieve it, all of a sudden the door shut and they were locked in. They were locked in...for 20 minutes. You have to understand that the basement of Drake is a very scary place. It is dark and no one uses it for much of anything! Much less, I would never send a kid in the basement for any reason. Not only were they not where they were supposed to be, but they lied when they were finally found. They screamed and beat on the door for 20 minutes!! The teacher that found them said that when she let them out they had been crying so hard that snot was running down their cheeks and neck. They had been totally traumatized. We decided being locked in was punishment enough. One thing is for sure...I will never let them take the trash to the dumpster ever again!